Nudge Toward Potty Training

My first...my son...had no interest in potty training. But he suddenly wanted to at just over age 3 1/2 and then he did it very quickly all on his own really. What happened was I took him to visit some preschools because I was trying to decide where he should go. At one of them he saw this rice/sand table with some kind of toy where kids could scoop the rice into a thing where it falls through many layers and makes a wheel go round. He obsessed over this. He reeeeaaally wanted to go back and play with it. I told him only kids who are potty trained are allowed to go to that preschool. Well suddenly he was very motivated!

yes. I put my boys in training pants. They were just super thick kind of waffle texture undewear - lots of padding in front. When I knew they were ready (just before 3) and tired of it all, I just stuck them in it. I kept pants off. Kept them on our main floor (easy to wash floors) and just kept a potty nearby at all times. The first time they wet themselves they knew they didn't like the feel. So next time they started to get wet, I quickly pulled them down and put them on potty. I was ok with a bit of mess if it was very shortlived. It was. They got it very quickly.
That's how I trained all my kids. We did it at the same time they did overnight - all in one go.

My kids wouldn't potty train until they found out that they could stay with their grandparents overnight once they were (my parents don't do diapers). Some kind of big reward (or least big to them) that only potty trained kids can do works for some kids.

I just put my boys in underwear and got rid of the diapers. It was a messy couple of days and occasional accidents for a few weeks, but that's about it. That's what most people I talked to did.

My oldest was about 2 months shy of his 4th birthday, and my youngest was about 4 months from turning 4. I understand your desire to have him trained. Just wanted you to know that it's ok that he's not trained yet.

I put my son in underwear when he was 22 months of age and he was fully trained in a week. Took him to the toilet whenever he woke up, after eating and if we noticed he hadn't been in a few hours. That was it. He had absolutely no signs of 'potty readiness'. I had never even heard that (remarkably silly) term. He was rarely dry in the morning, never had any interest in the bathroom or diapers. Of course you can potty train a child who is 'not ready'. The rest of the civilized world does and looks at Americans like we have 3 heads for having 3 and 4 year olds in diapers.

i can see your dilemma, and appreciate your urgent desire to 'nudge.'
i dunno. i guess some parents have success with nudging, but from all i've seen and learned about kids, if you really want them to train quickly and successfully you bite a pillow and let them work out their own timeline.
you've still got a lot of time before the new baby comes. he'll almost certainly want to do it himself in that time frame. i think the risks of tension and distress that will come from forcing it will almost certainly outweigh the likelihood of him still being in diapers when the new one arrives.
you've already pushed him, rather a lot. i recommend that you counterintuitively back off.
khairete
S.

My 2nd boy was totally potty trained for pee by 3 but didn't poop on toilet until he was 4 and 9 months. He wore regular underwear and would wait until he was home and then hide somewhere to poop his pants. He would sit on potty - didn't seem to mind that but didn't seem to understand how to actually get poop out when sitting. Finally pediatrician told us to encourage him to straddle the toilet and poop that way. That is what worked but Daddy had to show him how to do it several times. He is 5 1/ 2 now and I will tell you no accidents.

They potty train when they are ready - not when you decide you don't want diapers. However, if I were you, I would try no diapers and see what happens. Good luck!

Well, he's young. I suggest you wait til summer then let him run around commando. With a long shirt to cover the essentials. Let him outside and stuff then when he needs to go he'll be ready.

One thing, it's very hard to train kids during winter. Don't know what it is but even with indoor heat and temperate climates it's just one of those things. You might check an almanac too.